Renegade Aeris x Cloud Week 2019
by sanctum-c
Summary: Prompt fills for Aeris x Cloud Week on Tumblr
1. Holistic Episodic Recollection

The memory was oft-visited. This meant in turn that it was no longer authentic, or perhaps more accurately, it had acquired embellishments, edits, given a shinier veneer than the real. It was all too possible that rather than a singular version of the event in question, it was fragments of many different occasions, or perhaps mostly from one night with highlights for another. The recall and revisiting of the memory changed it over time. Impossible to prevent.

No matter; it remained one of Aeris's favourites. The trip to the Gold Saucer had been part of a birthday celebration. Most likely hers, but even this detail was unclear. That was more the result of the alcohol than anything else.

The Gold Saucer was nominally an amusement park and to that end felt focused on a younger audience than Aeris's twenty-two years accounted for. This was not quite correct. While the big attractions were family friendly (rollercoasters! Arcades! Overly gothic hotel!) there was amongst, beside and beyond those activities others intended for a more mature audience. Certainly the Chocobo Races while entertaining for the youngsters had its area set up specifically for wagers. Battle square off limits to anyone below eighteen – and few kids would ever find something of interest in amongst Dio's massed collection of trinkets and artefacts.

Plus there were bars – were Aeris and friends had spent a good majority of their time before crashing into the theatre. In retrospect, and in the clear light of day, what should happen in the theatre had a lot of question marks over it. Aeris was clear enough on what she did, where she had gone, how she wound up involved and the aftermath. But surely something was wrong? Had they somehow crashed some event while drunk they were not supposed to?

Not a thing to dwell on again. No memory of disappointed, angry adults and bawling kids as a result. But then- No matter.

The attendants had asked for volunteers and Aeris thought it sounded fun. Aeris ushered up from the crowd and backstage to the cheering of her friends. Did she have lines? She'd said something that sounded right. Maybe improvised. Maybe not. Either way she stood up into the rafters and clipped into a harness alongside a bulky guy wearing a cartoonish dragon costume.

Below the play carried on to much raucous laughter from the audience. Another volunteer was on-stage – and from this vantage point – out of sight. He seemed to be taking this all about as seriously as Aeris; not at all. The cast did not help matters, leaving obvious loop-holes in his responses and actions.

"Seek out the one who can help you!" Boomed a voice over the loudspeakers.

"Hey."

"I, um. Are you sure I, a mere knight, are the one who can help you defeat the Evil Magical Dragon King?"

"Yep."

The audience chortled again. The man behind her murmured something; before she could parse his words, she plummeted to the stage alongside him, the harness not offering much of a break. Warm and bright out in front of the lights. To the back and right of the stage was a man dressed as a wizard looking off-stage while a woman with a headset mouthed instructions at him. Towards the front was a knight in tin-foil armour holding an exaggerated, uncomfortable pose of absolute horror. And right before her was a man with spikey blond hair and blue eyes. He grinned.

"Now, brave Sir Alfred, defeat the Evil Dragon King!" A voice boomed. The blond man pointed at himself. "Yes, you!" The man shrugged.

The wizard turned his attention back to the stage. "Um, the power of love will surely best the Evil Dragon King."

The man met her gaze and smirked. Ah, a setup then. Hard not to feel a thrill as he walked towards her. This was a play, but by implication- Aeris's friends were screaming their support from the audience. "Oh, oh Alfred, you came for me." Corny line but about in keeping with everything else.

'Alfred' halted in front of her; she looked up. "Sorry princess."

"Why, Sir Alfred, what can you possibly have to apologise for?" This was fun.

"Well." 'Alfred' scrubbed at his hair. "Just, now standing here, seeing the two of you, I think I prefer the Evil Dragon King." 'Alfred' leant past her to kiss the cheek of the costume. Aeris fault to hide her giggles even while she swooned. And here again a point where memory felt it must be fallible. How was it possible or plausible that the actors had prepared for this situation? No sooner had 'Alfred' completed his smooch when the Evil Dragon King rose out of sight – and for a woman in a pink tutu to descend in his place.

"Why, thank you Sir Alfred! You have broken the dragon's curse. Come, now we can live happily ever after." The former-Evil Dragon King twirled her way off stage, followed by both 'Alfred', the wizard and the knight.

"Alas, the Princess was forgotten about by her knight." Aeris grinned, folded her arms and assumed a stern expression. An angry foot stomp gained her a new wave of applause, and both the players and 'Alfred' returned to take a bow.

Aeris caught 'Alfred''s arm after. "Thank you for that. I had a lot of fun."

'Alfred' grinned and there was some unimportant small-talk for a while. She learned his name was Cloud, and waved her friends off to their own devices when they grew bored. She and Cloud carried on talking, each trying to make the other laugh more. They meandered through the Gold Saucer, wasting a few gil on the chocobo races, on the arcades. The evening passed in a blur and one thing inevitably lead to another. Making out became more passionate. Passionate kissing demanded more privacy. And once in private, clothes were an impediment soon dispensed with.

And perhaps there could have been more there. If the night in question had not been Aeris's last at the Gold Saucer. If transport was not arranged for so early the next morning. If she had not snuck out and not disturbed Cloud when her PHS rang and her friends hurried her to catch up. What would it have been like to linger?

Another branch not taken in the ever diverging reality of her life. That was enough.

Aeris relaxed and lowered the sphere from beside her head. Captured within the crystalline structure was her memory of that night as of her last recall. A shame the capture was not made earlier. When the memory would have been truer. But did that matter? To relive was a delight and now she need not fear a failing memory as time passed. There were other memories to retrieve but- For now, something else. Aeris carefully laid the materia sphere in its container and headed for the garden.


	2. Corporate Secrets

Aeris Gainsborough was still considered by most the top of her field in matters involving the Ancients, or Cetra. She might be young, but she had spent long hours in the known ruins thanks to her (occasionally sinister) patron, the Shinra Electric Company. Quite what a power company with a sideline in weapons development wanted with a long dead culture was a mystery but every part of her search was fascinating and enthralling - and if the company was willing to pay for her findings she was content.

She seemed to be lucky more than anything else. More papers, more books and more detail in the five years since she undertook the research project than anyone managed in a century prior. There was an almost instinctual way Aeris knew which ruins held something of interest, or a wall blocked some interesting curios, or a barren patch of ground was the right elevation, positioning and proximity to other known ancient structures to be a likely location for a Cetra structure.

Success could not last forever, and there remained the odd fear on every expedition something would go wrong this time; she would be absolutely certain as she always was – and find nothing. No hidden structure, no sealed up container with a dozen scrolls in difficult to parse glyphs in a language no one could speak or read. Occasionally the worry prevented her sleeping; she had succeeded so far, thrown away anything and everything else to focus so completely on this one skill of hers. What happened when, or perhaps more optimistically, if it ever abandoned her? No answers as yet.

And the stranger challenged everything she knew or perhaps thought she knew. He arrived late at night when she was considering taking a break and vegging out at home. "Doctor Gainsborough?" A hooded figure peered into her office.

"Yes?"

"I wondered if I could beg a moment of your time. About the Cetra?"

Curious already; few used the correct term within her field. Fewer outside it – and this man was assuredly not someone from the community. But it was a Friday and it was late. "Can this wait?" The figure wilted. "Sorry, its just been a long day and I have a lot I still need to do." Scattered papers, funding requests, inventories, speculative translations of glyphs, some questions for the next journal. The figure did not move. "Fine."

He glanced back out the door. "I wasn't sure I could trust you."

"Me?" Aeris said, spluttering. "I'm not sure why you'd worry."

"Shinra."

"My sponsor?" Ah. Potentially one of the protestors. This was a new one; harassing a researcher unconnected with admittedly dubious power-generation methods. "I do appreciate your concerns, sir, but I really don't have any kind of influence over-"

The man removed his hand from under his cloak; he gripped a metallic circle unlike anything Aeris had seen. The glyphs upon it were familiar enough, if not their meaning. "Where…. Where did you find that." She reached out with trembling hands. The man let her take it.

"In Nibelheim." Absurd. The Shinra company originated from that far-flung mountain town. Surely they would have found a promising Cetra dig-site years before given their interest. "It was uncovered during the reactor construction."

Aeris dragged her attention from the glyphs and the circle. Once part of something larger. The glyphs repeated with a rapidity not seen elsewhere in Cetra glyphs. "What was that?"

The man shrugged, the movement curious, a hint of a light under the hood. Implausible. "The record indicated that and similar pieces were found during the Nibelheim Mako reactor."

"That was fifty years ago!" Aeris couldn't help her voice rising. The figure gestured at her frantically. "Sorry, this is an absurd story. Why would Shinra not have told me about these?"

"Shinra keeps a lot to itself." The figure paused and flung back his hood. Blond spikes and a handsome face. But all secondary to the real curiosity he exhibited. Around each pupil was an unmistakable glowing ring. A SOLDIER. "This-" He gestured at his eyes. "Was done to me."

"I thought they were clear what signing up would do." Her voice came out in a murmur, certain that this assumption was far from correct.

"I wouldn't know. I never got a choice." The man snorted. "Signed up, rejected and then they took me to operate on anyway." He glanced away from her, face contorted. Something more there. Something worse.

Aeris sat down heavily. She still held the metallic circle and struggled to find her voice. "Did- Did you see anything that might suggest what this was?"

The man shook his head. "If they knew, they kept that more hidden. But, I think it has something to do with this. He fumbled in some pocket or container beneath this cloak. A larger, jagged chunk of metal marked with new glyphs. Wait. Images perhaps? No. A map. A number of the familiar Cetra ruins picked out with other markings on the metal – in addition to Nibelheim. But most interesting was a larger marker as part of an island chain off the coast of the Western continent.

Betrayal. Motivated betrayal. What was Shinra's game? To have her roaming and digging up trinkets when something like this, an entire map lay who knew where? "Where in Nibelheim was this?"

"Shinra mansion."

How arrogantly typical. "Thank you, Mr-?"

"Strife."

"Strife." The map was hard to look away from. "I will try and sort some compensation if you could see fit to leaving these with me-"

"Not letting them out of my sight." He gripped the map tighter. "And I need to see whatever this is through."

"Do you have an archaeological experience?" Aeris doubted it, but coincidences were not unknown. Mr. Strife shook his head. "Then I can't really take you with me."

"I can help keep you safe." He expression brooked no compromise. "And if you follow the map, I think you'll need it."

Aeris raised her eyebrows. "I thought Nibelheim was quiet?"

"It is. But it'd be pointless to go back now; Shinra sent three divisions to that island." He gestured at the map. "Something's happening and soon. And I'm certain you're the only person who might be able to understand what."

No choice at all, but still an odd need to justify it. So many things to do here, mundane – if interesting – versus seeing these other sites. And uncovering the things Shinra deemed fit to hide from her. The man seemed justly paranoid about the company. Might be an idea to adopt the same stance. "Very well, Mr. Strife. I think we can come to some arrangement."

That got a smile. "Thank you, Doctor Gainsborough."

"Aeris, please."

"Aeris," he said. "I'm Cloud."


	3. Aeris vs Aerith

New this week is filled – as might be unsurprising – with news of the successful arrival of the first colony ship at the life-sustaining Planet LV-777. Old news you might be saying, and why is that kind of current news appearing on a historical site like this one? Some of you likely already know the significance of the star LV-777 is in orbit around; Aeris's Eye. A quirk of interstellar dust and the strangeness of the universe gives the star a unique green glow, tying in with the mythological Aeris of Midgar.

Aeris of Midgar is a centuries old but still popular myth, adapted many times and used as the basis of many modern works (most notably the overly flashy Reunion Revisited which draws on one reconstruction of the myth. Many are excited by what has been currently revealed, but we're holding judgement until we can see how it all comes together in the end). A familiar enough story to most; the last of a mighty race born into abject poverty in a prosperous city, Aeris is drawn into the plight of the rebels. Together they stood against King Shira and his assassin Sefiroth. When Sefiroth cut down the wandering soldier Cloud, Aeris took up his sword and pushed back against tyranny to free the world.

These are the elements all can agree on in most pop-culture adaptations; the rise from poverty, taking up the fallen weapon and rising up to topple the corrupt king. No doubt you are acquainted with or familiar with the looser versions; the great love-affairs between Cloud and Aeris, or Cloud and Tia. The ground is muddied in places by differing versions refocusing the myth on Cloud himself (leading to an adjacent star named Cloud's Eye in a bid to find some balance) or the oft-alluded to Zack, sequels and even prequels to the original myth.

Recent research has uncovered older versions of the myth and excitingly these align more closely with other historical records. 'Aeris' it is implied is a corruption of the original glyphs and should be instead rendered as 'Aerith' (there are long articles on the errors introduced by haphazard or questionably motivated scholars). The version our modern depictions of the myth is heavily based on contains a lengthy prologue devoted to the character of Zak, entirely excised by translators. Curiously he bears the sword wielded by Aeris in the latter stages of the story, the weapon passing to Aeris from Cloud and Zak before him. Some mention is made of yet another owner still further back.

But even this is not the original version. This source has been found to draw on two separate interpretations. The first mentions the ancient city of Midgard as Aeris's home and surprisingly implies a relationship between her and Zak, though he does not pass on any kind of weapon to her, and vanishes from the text soon after. In this version, Aeris founds the rebel group and marries Cloud after King Sinra is defeated (there is no mention of Sefiroth here). The second version also includes more of Zak than anticipated and details his receiving of the sword before passing it onto Cloud. But never to Aeris. This version remains something of an oddity. As with a number of modern interpretations, the story focuses more on Cloud than Aeris, to the extent that Aeris dies about half-way through at Sefiroth's (here rendered as Sephiroth) hands. This does not prevent her from lending her strength to eventual victory, but is somewhat jarring given the more familiar versions.

Both versions can be traced further back, each showing minor changes in names and locations (and curiously enough, substitution of Aeris and Aerith through-out the text. Some outlandish theories of two people with the same names have been dismissed, but many of the recent discoveries were previously treated with similar disdain, so who can say what may yet come to light)?

The earliest source we have for both originating texts is surprisingly from a single author. Said author seems to have drawn from a familiar story (or possibly even actual historical event) for the basis, but still produced two similar, yet distinctly different versions of the same myth. The identity of this author is as yet unknown, the texts drawn from damaged and partly corrupted computer files and a surprise to find in as good a condition as they are.

Work is underway to locate more work by the same author or any other references to the same event, and in addition a new book is currently being written to further explore the strange similarities and divergences in the source text, and as above a new film version is set to go into production as celebration for the colony ship's success.

Let us all wish the colonists success on their new home; Spira.


	4. Retracing Her Steps

Aeris's first planned adventure was an easy choice. Retrace the path Avalanche took around the world – up to the same point their steps diverged from hers. Once there she could take the step beyond and complete the journey she missed out on. Cid muttered something about not getting stranded and a few days later handed her a satellite phone. He extracted a promise from her to always keep the device charged and call her when she reached the North Crater. Her companions had almost all flown away from the north, so why not her too?

Yuffie loudly wondered if Aeris wanted to meander as much as they did. Or if she would look in on familiar faces along the way. Aeris merely smiled.

Trekking from the edge of Midgar to Kalm took less than a day. The Planet's voice rumbled somewhere far below, the air cleaner now former traces of Mako in the air were long gone. Gentle wind washed over the grasslands. Grass beneath her feet and blue sky above; Aeris took her boots off part-way and walked barefoot to Mom's house. Shame Aeris could not stay for a longer visit, but there would be more opportunities in the future. Mom was so much brighter here in Kalm. Less tired.

After Mom's house came a long stretch of wilderness. Aeris procured enough supplies in Kalm to camp out safely. Her staff and materia would deal with the monsters; some remembered tricks of her first trip around the world kept her safe at night. She kept a journal, scribbling sightings, thoughts and distances.

Chocobo Billy did not recognise her when she made it to the farm. She never expected him to and paid the requisite gil to hire both a room and a chocobo. The Midgar Zolom might be dead (the impaled corpse thankfully no longer looming over the entrance to the Mythril Mines), but trudging through a swamp held little appeal; Aeris rushed over the distance on Chocobo-back.

The Mythril Mine was colder than memory; a well-worn route out to the grasslands and Fort Condor. The new Phoenix sat contentedly on the inert reactor, slumbering undisturbed by Shinra forces.

Aeris first ran into Cloud at Junon. Out on deliveries and by chance arrived in the port town at the same time as her. Together they visited Priscilla and Mr. Dolphin, the bay water now clearer and less polluted. Airship traffic criss-crossed the skies above; and no matter how much time passed, the city still did not look right in the absence of the Sister Ray. Spending time with Cloud lead to dinner together. Dinner became some drinks at the bar. Cloud contemplated pulling an all-nighter to get back on the road; Aeris invited him to her hotel room for coffee.

Their first time together. For all the flirting and missed opportunities years before and now in the present, a chance like this had never presented itself. Cloud was shyer than she imagined, much less confident, hesitant to kiss, to embrace, to please. Aeris took the lead and made clear what she wanted from their coupling; Cloud was a quick learner. He made some fumbling, awkward attempt to find out if she expected more of him now, but she disabused him of the notion. They had spent the night together – absolutely fulfilling after the clumsy beginning – but who knew when another opportunity arose? Cloud had his life, and she had hers.

He waved her off when the ship set sail for Costa del Sol; Aeris waved back and smiled at the memory of last night. Two days later she accepted a girl's – Undyne – offer of coffee close to midnight; the decision resulted in a split of her time with her new friend, the beach and the bar. This too resulted in a parting; Undyne had a life here and little desire for travel. Aeris shared a bed with her during her stay, bid her goodbye and set out once more.

Barret met her in the New North Corel, the make-shift second incarnation transformed utterly by its residents, new buildings shooting up almost by the day. Marlene asked Aeris a torrent of questions about the rest of Avalanche and she answered them all. At Barret's insistence Aeris spent the night on his sofa before setting out for the Gold Saucer the next morning. Here too would be a divergence; no desire to wind up down in the prison again.

Aeris toured the theme park, spent some pleasurable moments in secluded areas with a guy she met in the queue for the Shooting Coaster, but in the end left both him and the park behind.

Gongaga confounded her; what could she say now? Her second time here, and a certain elderly couple recognised her all too readily. How to explain the how and why of her previous lie, when she hadn't wanted to accept the implied truth? This time she provided them the closure they needed, apologising for before. They accepted her words; a chapter now closed off at long last.

The town showed signs of recovery, but time here was uncomfortable with the past looming so large. Cosmo Canyon was better; Nanaki pleased to see her, the elders crowding her to learn what she could now tell them having ventured into and back out of the Lifestream itself.

So busy here, her time split between reciting what she knew to the Elders and spending time with Nanaki. Too easy to lose all her time here. Unlike Nibelheim. Before reaching the town, Aeris considered getting a room in the hotel. The town was odd and fake, but functioned as a town. A revisit dismissed any notion of dawdling. The residents had dwindled over the years and left the town more oppressive. A feeling of too many eyes watching left her shivering. Stupid plan, but Mount Nibel must surely be better than this.

A mistake. The former resting place of Jenova plagued her. The Planet's voice was dim and Jenova was assuredly gone, but her voice somehow lingered here, singing her impossible, seductive song. No rest to be had – and more critically little idea of how to find her way down to Rocket Town. Possibly should have taken Tifa up on her offer of company. Or at least asked for a map.

Bad to ask so soon, but completing the journey was the important part. She used the still charged satellite phone to contact Cid and holed up at the Mako reactor for a few hours. Cid expected the call, but not so soon and fortunately close at hand. A relief to hear the whine of the airship's engines hours later. Another brief trip aboard the Highwind. Some minor grumbling aside, Cid was content to drop her off at the base of Mount Nibel. The mountain dropped below the airship and soon rushed up beside the craft as they descended. Cid promised to update the others on her progress and left her to her travels.

Rocket Town much changed; no Shinra-26 looming, no Cid and no Shera. The pair all too busy running their airship business, sending people and goods all over the world. The town still thrived in contrast to Nibelheim, the distant outpost used to construct and test the new generations of airship, the daytime air filled with the cacophony of construction. Aeris marvelled at the new craft, each presenting a new opportunity to sail through the sky.

She pushed onto Wutai, the sea crossing now via a regular ferry. Something of a shame Yuffie was not there to meet her. But Cloud was, having picked up from Cid where she was and calculated accordingly. Aeris enveloped him in a long hug and had trouble letting go.

Three days in Wutai, much of it in bed. She checked each morning if Cloud needed to go, and when he insisted he did not, she indulged. Almost tempting to ask him to stay with her and relive Enchantment Night with her. Unfair; Cloud had delayed more than he should and after a few more days in Wutai she also needed to move on once again. Regardless, her timing was off on the return to the Gold Saucer, but unsurprising; she never planned to replicate anything so closely. Her second visit to the theme park was much like the first; a night like any other. Crowds of people, lost bets on the Chocobos and couples on dates; but Aeris spent her time here alone.

Another night in the Ghost Hotel. In the theatre another couple struggled with badly thought out prompts to the audience's amusement. She rode the gondola, staring out at the other branches of the Gold Saucer arrayed below her, no fireworks exploding in the air around her this time. People crowded the steps up to Chocobo Square; Aeris fought for a space to turn and look back out away from the amusement park. The arc of a remembered helicopter ascending away.

Barret helped charter a boat the next morning; her path took her out to a rarely visited island chain. No reason to spend long at the Temple ruins now the Black Materia was gone. Little to see beyond the plunging pit nowhere close to deep or vast enough to hold the gigantic structure of the Temple of the Ancients. Uncomfortable memories of the pit, of Sephiroth at the edge- Cold. She shivered during her return trip to Gongaga, wondering if perhaps the recreation was not a good idea.

Travelling North lightened her mood, a sense of anticipation and excitement like her previous solitary journey. The archaeologists at Bone Village still dug into the earth, a few conspiratorially telling her of the unexpected visitors years before who entered the Sleeping Forest – and made it out the other side as far as they could tell. Aeris let them talk her out of attempting to enter the woods today and rented a room. But hard to relax or sleep; no matter what she tried, her thoughts focused on what lay so close at hand. She slipped from her room in the midnight hours and followed the remains of the path North.

Stepping inside the forest sparked a worry; whatever guided her through the trail previously might be gone and the Sleeping Forest now true to its name. But neither exhaustion nor tiredness marred her as she hurried through the oppressive quiet of the woods. She arrived at the City with the dawn. And now, another deviation. Before she could not bear a delay and followed the path into the centre; into the hidden forest and the lake within the city, down into the cavern below. She had never seen the remainder of the city, the fallen houses, the still usable structure Avalanche camped in during their pursuit. Less urgency now.

So much of the city damaged and destroyed by the ravages of time. Acres of rubble, and little indication of what might have once been here. The air was warmer than it should be, some quirk of the landscape or some ancient Cetra device still operating was unclear. Paths snaked around the city and lead further North. Down into a canyon and a shell-like spiralling stair up into the mountains beyond. New ground upon which she had never trodden. The next link in her route. But there remained one place within the city still to revisit.

The fish vanished at her touch as it had before. The long descent down the crystalline stair as dizzying. But no pressing need to move fast, to commence the ceremonies, a rush capable of sending her tumbling down the stairs. Aeris descended and made her way to the central platform. The place where she once died. Nothing here to indicate what had happened. Vague in memory; nothing but a shadow of pain, confusion and darkness. The altar did not invoke the discomfort of the Temple. Her ending once, but this place held little fear for her.

A glimpse of something in the deep water. A flicker of white or perhaps green. Safe enough until needed again. Aeris surveyed the cavern once more and leapt off the central platform. The first truly new step of her journey.

Better prepared than Avalanche for this next stage; Aeris changed into her cold weather gear at the Northern limit of the city and scrambled up the shell stairs. The snowfields beyond the mountains had shocked her friends. Aeris still shivered despite her preparations. The winds howled around her, snow swirling. How horrible would it be to try this unknowingly, to struggle through the snows in her old dress and a too thin jacket?

Of all the places she had never seen, Icicle Inn and the cluster of houses nearby remained one of the more fascinating, intriguing and sorely tempting. Despite her shivers and imaginings of Avalanche's previous journey, snow was curious. Better when she reached the inn, a series of hills rising beyond the settlement blocking the winds. In the shelter, snow was beautiful and curious. Now, if only the others were here to engage in snowball fights. A pang; unlikely any of them had the desire to try last time either.

Ever since leaving the city, the Planet quietened beneath her. Tifa had echoed her mother's words in previous conversations – and it made sense. The Planet's focus was ahead on the deep scar Jenova caused. Something for later. Here, not far past her ending, was her beginning. Aeris took her time getting to the damaged house; she dropped off her bags in the inn, got warm again, and enjoyed dinner. As with reaching the City, hard to focus on little else but the anticipation of her next destination.

The broad strokes of what awaited her was well-known to her; the state of the house – the power still functional – the shadows and echoes left by her parents and Hojo. The bullet holes still invoked a shiver, but she would not let it deter her. Creaking floorboards echoed in the stillness; she fumbled with the out-dated monitor and VHS. In grainy images, Aeris saw her mother again; and for the first time, her father.

She watched each tape three times, scarcely listening to their voices, focusing more on her parent's faces, their movements, the slow progression of their relationship. How stilted they were in the first tape, relaxed by the second – and somewhere in between the second and third, everything advanced and now Mom cradled her. The last tape was hardest to watch; Hojo's intrusion ended the family's peaceful life and with it came another fatal gunshot. She heard both the bullets responsible for ending her parent's lives.

The rest of the house failed to turn up any additional artefacts. Shinra and Hojo were sloppy in some ways, less so in others. Nothing but old, out of fashion clothes, decomposing toiletries and decayed food. The sense of family in the building was long gone. Any other research or notes her mother or father might have made were gone. No overlooked secrets of the Cetra. No rites, no rituals, no further knowledge. No coldly scientific texts a scientist might make. If such artefacts existed, Hojo had taken them. Aeris took the tapes and retreated to the hotel, holing up in her room alone.

Of course the contents of the tapes affected her; how could they fail to? She hugged them to her chest. Little appetite but she forced a meal down the next morning. She would need her strength for the next part. In a surreal bid to catch up with Sephiroth, Avalanche had used the nearby ski-slope to speed up their descent. A potentially fun route, but Aeris had a lot to carry. She took a longer, winding parallel route down to the hot-springs.

Ahead, Gaea's Cliffs rose high. Mr Hozelhoff remembered Avalanche well-enough; who could fail to remember such a mismatched group, so woefully unprepared for climbing the mountain? She smiled at his amazement they had successfully scaled the cliffs but taken a different route away again. Aeris passed on their apologies and ignored his critical look when she confessed to a desire to also climb the cliffs. He stopped short of advising against it, but warned of far different the conditions at the peak; old advice and routes may no longer hold true.

The most physically intensive part of her trip; Aeris long prepared for the climb, practising, researching and learning all she could about mountain and ice-climbing. Amazing Avalanche had survived this at all, the icy-covered rocks, the cave systems threading in and out of the towering cliff. She carried on; her route and Avalanche's scarcely reconcilable. But the important part here was her destination and she inched ever further up.

When Avalanche made this same trip, they found a maze of twisted rock and high winds in the bowl of an impact crater, a plume of Lifstream flaring up at the centre. All gone now; demolished by Sephiroth and the WEAPONS. A conical abyss lay before her instead, irregular rock outcrops providing a tiring, but usable route down deep below ground. Not her route. Not yet. Perhaps not ever. Still undecided if what remained of those deep trails was worth striving for; if her journey would halt in this same spot via the Highwind.

On the edge of the crater she called Cid. Her timing was off and it would take him three days to reach her. That was fine; there was a safe-spot below the ridge, a small cave she could set up a camp in, sheltered from the cold and wind and monsters as much as possible. The next day she skirted around the rim of the crater, peering down into the depths and outwards to the unfamiliar land beyond and to the South. Avalanche had never set foot there. And for now, neither would she.

The day after, she tensed as the sounds of something scrabbling up the cliffs became too loud to ignore. Tension. Another climber? Some more monstrous threat to deal with? She clutched her staff tight, ready to swing- Cloud clambered over the edge and Aeris could do nothing but hug him. Cid had called to tell him to warn of his delay – and find out if Cloud was in a convenient spot. Fortunately he was.

An unrealised tension slid from Aeris's shoulders. They curled together in comfort when night fell, shared warmth so much better than burrowing into her sleeping bag alone. Bliss. The next morning, Aeris asked Cloud how long he was going to hang around for; to her delight he intended to stay to the end now. Of course; he too had missed out on a number of her next steps – not least the Highwind's flight from the North Crater to Junon – and he too liked the idea of revisiting this missing portion of Avalanche's journey. Smiling, Aeris took his hand and they found ways to pass the time until Cid's arrival.


	5. Seeking Closeness

They'd been riskier and riskier. Whenever they met up, the first thing was a swift tumble into bed, desperate to touch and press close to each other. At first diligence; however excited and urgent their needs, there was a pause to worry about the contraceptives. The fumbling when Cloud tore open the foil, Aeris lounging, teasing during the anxious wait until they could join together. All fine – better than fine; until the day the condom tore.

Panic set them moving immediately, seeking out a pharmacy and the morning-after pill and relief. No worries about Aeris becoming pregnant. They retreated back to Cloud's house, for dinner, passions cooled by the near miss. Until a flare-up; Aeris kissing Cloud again and again until they made their way – as always – up to the bed.

Murmured conversations after, and a new daring notion. The medication was winding through her body, preventing her from falling pregnant. Aeris slid her hips atop Cloud's, pressing against him. He tensed, worried, yet aroused, warning her of the risks. She acknowledged them with a smile, shifting closer, holding him in position. "I trust you." He slid inside her.

Cloud sucked in a deep breath, murmuring appreciation. Aeris grinned and lent forward to kiss him. He felt different like this, but it seemed far distinct for him. They stopped well before his climax, reverting back to the formerly reliable contraceptives.

But now the notion was in both their heads. Now, Aeris coaxed him closer whenever they slept together, no longer petrified of keeping separate until protected. Cloud made some token resistances but was soon drawn into sensation. All too soon it was habit; have nothing between them, to pant and gasp until Cloud no longer felt able to risk anything and use a condom.

The morning after pill was not intended as a regular use contraceptive, but if only once or twice – not too bad surely. The next time, Aeris let Cloud settle against her hips and murmured she wanted to feel everything. Cloud raised an eyebrow and she nodded. Risky, oh so risky, but so good. Tiny differences; how Cloud's hips shifted towards the end, any semblance of control vanishing as he rushed to completion – and every associated sensation.

They lay together longer than they should, enjoying the closeness, fewer needs to shift or move or anything. But they had to in the end; another dose of medication and admonishment for their flimsy lie of another breakage. Could have happened. Didn't, but could have.

Hard to stop; they carried on, putting caution to the wind. Aeris calculated her safe-days and took advantage of them all. Tense the first month until her period came. Everything was fine.

Until she missed her period in the fourth month.

Aeris froze when calculating the time-span. Some variance certainly, but she was late – far too late for comfort. Stomach in free-fall and anxious. No desire for parent-hood. The decision came swiftly and decisively; no need to tell Cloud. Not his concern. Aeris marched to the doctor and sorted the problem. The doctor suggested oral contraceptives. Still a risk but vanishingly small. One pill a day would be easy. Aeris left still not an expectant parent and better protected than before.


	6. Price List

A flower's cost was more or less means tested. In practice, this was whatever Aeris figured a customer could afford to pay – with some exceptions for sympathy or celebratory events. Customers who leered and made suggestive comments in Wall Market could expect prices upwards of two hundred gil, many upset at a critical misunderstanding of what was on sale. The flowers. Anything more would see inquirers directed to the Honey Bee Inn or the more dubious places in Sector Six.

In Sector Five, flowers cost anywhere between five to ten gil. Hard enough to scrape by down here, and the flowers did make people feel better. Often slum-dwellers would pause to wistfully recount their former lives away from the city. Outside under blue skies, in grassy meadows, where flowers like these grew wild and no one had to suffer air choked with Mako fumes.

Always sounded so tempting, so much better. But how to achieve it was never clear – without saving. Aeris had ventured to the edge of the city more than once and peered out. Surrounding Midgar was a grey wasteland. No greenery here. Hopefully it was further afield. Possibly bad timing on her part, but whenever she viewed outside, the sky was never blue – always overcast and grey.

The Upper Plate's prices skewed to remarkable variances. It depended on the attitude of the customer – and in odd cases, how notorious they were with their spending habits for the famous rich. Shinra workers not bound for below plate would start off at one hundred gil. Most would try to haggle, but Aeris knew full well there were no flowers like hers in the city. The Shinra employees always folded in the end. Selling in Sector Eight was often a good day.

The great days were when managing to accost some celebrity or upper-management Shinra type, though critically no one like Hojo (never once seen outside the Shinra building. Did he ever leave) or President Shinra. Or the Turks. The celebrities, film, TV, theatre stars could afford to shuttle back and forth between the major cities and had the remit to wander out into real wildernesses for real flowers. But they would pay her for the convenience, barely blinking at her inflated prices, keen to show off to a date, loved one or friends. These sales were the truly excellent, helping fund a nice meal for Mom and her, or helping plug a gap in the household's finances, or allowing Aeris a treat of some kind.

SOLDIERs were a rarity. She did not often see them, let alone sell flowers to them. But he was sure-footed when the populace in Sector Eight panicked in the gloom, the smoke and flames rising from the destroyed reactor beyond. He seemed distracted until she held the flower out, all his attention focused on it. Not one sent on a lot of missions; the SOLDIER stared at it like it was the first he'd seen in years.

"One gil." A bargain, the discount applied on the spur of the moment. Her smile was complimentary.


	7. Aeris Gainsborough, Ex-SOLDIER

Aeris stirred with a groan. Above shafts of brighter light stabbed down, whorls of dust drifting in random movements. Sunlight? Or one of the floodlights Shinra used. What had-? The memories came in a rush; the second reactor assault, the lack of resistance or security. The alarms silently deactivated before they ventured inside. Everything going a little too well. Shinra troops waiting for them on the way out, President Shinra gloating before a helicopter whisked him away.

The robot.

The explosion, the fire and intensity catching them all of guard. Aeris left hanging over the slums. Tifa reaching desperately for her, Barret trying vainly to keep her anchored.

The plummet, the fire vanishing above, the wind whistling in her ears- Mercifully she could not remember hitting anything. And while she hurt from head to toe, somehow nothing broken. Mako treatments. A furtive motion nearby. With a grunt, Aeris forced herself up onto her hands. A slight, blond man with spiked hair and a pony-tail peered at her curiously. "You're alive."

Aeris grinned. "I am." She winced as she sat up. "Might not be so glad I did though." Should be sector five – or at least she fell from over the dividing line between the lower plates. Pews, stained glass windows, huge space with exposed beams above- "Am I in a church?" The old ways were apparently gone, the places of worship and the iconography long since disposed of. Supposedly. This place escaped the cleanse it seemed.

"Yes." The man ventured closer. He frowned. "You didn't come here for me?"

"You?" Unless the man was a secretive Shinra operative, or some underworld associate – neither of which seemed likely – why should he-? The uniform. Needed to ditch that at some point. Tended to make people nervous. "Shinra's after you?"

"Aren't you?"

"I'm-" Complicated. "-not with Shinra." No need to overwhelm him.

The man did not seem inclined to believe her. "But. You're a SOLDIER right? Your eyes...?"

"Was a SOLDIER. Not any more. Now I'm-" Trying to save the world? Helping a terrorist group? "-not." The man hummed, but did not flee. What would Shinra want with this man that he could make such an assumption? "Why are Shinra interested in you?"

He tensed and glanced to the ground. "Not completely sure." Suspicious. "Guess they want me for my gardening."

"Gardening?"

He smiled. "Yeah. The flowers."

"Flowers-" Beneath her was an island of colour, yellows and reds and violets with green beneath. Apparently the trick to her survival. "Flowers." She murmured the word. Flowers in Midgar was supposedly impossible, or at least ruinously expensive. But here in the slums was a riot of colour unlike anything else in Midgar. Out in the slums the world was harshly lit, tinged in places by the piercing glow of neon. How long since she had seen any flowers? "I'm… I'm sorry." She scrambled up, bent stalks and smashed petals where she had lain.

"It's okay." He knelt and ran a loving hand across the broken stems. "Rather not have dealt with another dead body today." Slum humour.

"Okay, so I think I can see why Shinra might be interested. That's quite a trick." Aeris circled the flower patch, the man still tending to the impression she left.

"No trick. They just… grow." The man sighed. "Did you use materia in SOLDIER?"

"All the time." Spells loosed with a thought, muscles strengthened and sleep banished with cure spells, the existing, devastating blade of the Buster Sword made more dangerous with lightning channelled through it.

The man fumbled with his pony-tail and held out a white sphere. Smaller than even newly compressed materia and of no colour Aeris recognised. She reached for it- "May I?"

"Go ahead," the man said. "Doesn't do anything."

It would be easy to dismiss the comment as the conclusion by an inexperienced materia-wielder, but Aeris bit her tongue and plucked up the sphere. Nothing. Still that near spark when making contact with the materia's surface, but no spell or invocation at the back of her mind as if always there. Nothing. The sphere was inert. If not for that first sense, it would be hard to believe the sphere was even materia. "Never seen anything like it." She handed it back and the man pushed the sphere into his hair again. "Where did you get it?"

"It's a memento from my mother. She-" Rusted hinges screamed, and down the other end of the church, one of the huge wooden doors swung open. An all too familiar blue-suited figure stepped into the church. Turks. The man beside her tensed up. "Kept me distracted while back-up arrived?" His confidence evaporated when the red-headed Turk frowned at Aeris; his eyes widening a moment later. He recognised her. So much for any hope of sneaking out of this situation.

"I want to assure you, I'm not with Shinra," Aeris murmured. The Turk muttered something into a radio and leant against the other church door. Was there another way out of here?

"Then can you help get me out of here?" The man stared into her eyes. "Whatever you want. Anything."

Slum-dwellers had little money – Avalanche's pay was tiny. But there was something there, the sudden openness about the materia, and at a closer glance, those eyes were wondrous and blue. Maybe. Should be getting back. Should be focusing on the mission. But how long since someone attracted her attention? "Anything? How about a date?"

"A date?"

"Would that be a problem?" She shot him a side-eye. "You rather I demanded gil?"

The man shook his head. "I'll go out with you. Once."

That would depend entirely on how the occasion went. "Deal. What's your name?"

"Cloud," the man replied. He stepped closer.

"I'm Aeris." She heaved the Buster Sword from her back; a squad of Shinra troops pushed in through the doors. So much for post-mission downtime.


End file.
